Queen Elizabeth Aircraft Carrier section completed

The final section of the Queen Elizabeth Aircraft Carrier was completed at BAE Systems in Scotstoun in Glasgow yesterday.

The Aft Island section of the carrier will be loaded onto a barge before being transported to Rosyth where the rest of the ship is being constructed.

Six UK shipyards are involved in building various parts of the ship. The vessel will not be finished until 2016 at the earliest, and may not be ready for active service until 2020, when it will be based in Portsmouth.

The navy is expected to have no aircraft carriers between 2014, when HMS Illustrious is taken out of service, and 2016, when HMS Queen Elizabeth is completed. The government decided to retire the HMS Ark Royal and its fleet of Harrier jump jets in 2011, five years early.

Constructed by the Aircraft Carrier Alliance, the Queen Elizabeth will be the Royal Navy’s largest ever warship.